GAZA CITY, 7 July 2007 — Thousands of Palestinians took part yesterday in the funeral of 11 fighters killed during heavy fighting with Israeli troops who pulled out of the Gaza Strip overnight after the operation.
An Israeli Army spokesman said the incursion in central Gaza around the Mughazi refugee camp, and another in the northern part of the territory that was used to fire rockets on Israel, had ended and troops were back in Israel.
Of the 11 Palestinian fighters killed, six belonged to the armed wing of Hamas, the Islamist movement blacklisted as a terrorist organization in the West and which seized control of the Gaza Strip last month.
More than 25 Palestinians were wounded during the incursion, including five seriously, local medical sources said.
Two Israeli soldiers were also wounded in the central Gaza Strip operation, which saw around 100 troops, backed by tanks and helicopters, advance through the territory on foot, witnesses said.
Six houses were damaged by Israeli fire and a former Palestinian security station was completely destroyed in fighting around Mughazi where army bulldozers ripped up two hectares of farmland, local witnesses said.
Another five hectares of farmland were bulldozed in the north, they said.
Although Israel has vowed to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his new Western-backed emergency government based in the occupied West Bank, it has sworn to continue attacks on fighters. Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are expected to meet this month in the West Bank oasis town of Jericho, a senior official in Olmert’s office said, for talks canceled during the crisis that saw Hamas seize Gaza.
Israeli and Palestinian officials also began security discussions this week, which Israel would like to continue regularly in Ramallah and Jerusalem with a view to reforming a united Palestinian security force, the source said.
“The timetable is being discussed right now but Israel is interested in strengthening Abbas and will allow the provision of light weapons, armored vehicles and ammunition to the new security forces.
“Coordination nonetheless remains very difficult because of the low level of trust. Israeli and Palestinian security officials have sat down to find ways to reform the Palestinian security services,” the official said.
Hamas’ deadly takeover of the Gaza Strip humiliated Abbas loyalists and the Islamists remain in control of the impoverished territory over which the president and his new Prime Minister Salam Fayyad effectively have no control.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted by Itar-Tass news agency as saying that Moscow hopes that the Middle East diplomatic Quartet will meet on July 16, after EU envoy Marc Otte also said he hoped the date was viable.
The EU has said that the international Quartet — comprising the EU, Russia, the United Nations and United States — would likely meet with the so-called Arab quartet of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
— With input from agencies
